What it Means to Be a Saiyan
by jwootan02
Summary: AU. Goku and Vegeta along with their combined nine half-Saiyan children follow the canon and beyond to discover themselves and what honor and strength truly means to the Saiyan race. From Frieza, to Cell, to surviving Saiyans in search of their prince to return as their leader to New Vegeta-sei, to their race at war once again. Need substantial knowledge of the canon to enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

* * *

"Goku! Be careful!"

Flying Nimbus shot through the sky at a quick but leisurely speed. Laughter of all volumes shot through the crisp, morning air as a young father surfed through the clouds. A small boy stood at his feet with an iron grip on his right leg. The boy's laughter was light in comparison to his father's, but both felt like lead amongst the dainty, pixie-like giggle that they were so attuned to. The toddler's fists were clenched, holding on to the shirt of her father's gi as he soared through the skies with his two children.

They didn't quiet down until the golden riding cloud slowed to a stop on a mouse of an island with a single pink house. Its inhabitants bolted out the front door the moment the tall, coal haired man stepped his worn, black boots on the warm grains of summer sands.

"Goku!" A blue haired called out, the pitch of her voice skyrocketing with excited anticipation. A masculine laugh escaped from the mouth of a boldly smiling, short,bald man who was steps behind his woman friend. An old man was last to leave through the screen door of the pastel house, his mood mostly disguised by his dark shades, but there was a certain crinkle to his features that implied his eyes were smiling.

"Hey guys!" Goku answered. "Bulma, Krillin, you look good! Master Roshi," he acknowledged.

"What's up you guys? Sorry I'm late..." The grown man cheesed, shrugging with a hand behind his head, eyes squinted shut.

His three friends had frozen quickly after taking in Goku's appearance. Not only was he suddenly a man now, but there were, not one, but, two children with him. Their resemblance was uncanny.

Their hair was all long, and though Goku's was the only one's to defy gravity in that way that it does, they all were a sleek black, the boy's just as unmanageable as Goku's. Their faces were similar, though the girl's was definitely a spitting image of their friend's despite her young age. And not to mention the pure innocence felt from the little boy at Goku's feet! It was just like the Goku they'd all known as a boy. And just in case any of them held a shred of doubt, all three has brown furry tails wriggling absently, extending from their lower backs.

"Um, Goku, are you babysitting?" Bulma asked her childhood friend while the men were too confused to voice themselves.

"What?" Goku answered, looking down at his son then back to Bulma while tightening his grip on his daughter. "No, these are my kids. Sorry Chi-Chi couldn't come too."

Three faces fell comically and sweat drops graced the back of their head at the news that Goku - their goof of an innocent childhood friend - had children of his own.

"Wow, Goku." Krillin stammered.

Master Roshi's face faltered and he cracked a toothy grin.

"Way to go, son!"

Krillin blushed as Bulma walked up to Goku, who sent a responding smile to his old sensei. Bending down, Bulma locked eyes with the boy still clamped to his father's obviously muscular leg.

"Hi. My name is Bulma. What's yours?"

Goku placed his free hand on his son's head, mussing his hair, wordlessly telling his son that it was okay. His other hand adjusted its grip on the toddler, bouncing her within his hold.

"My name is Gohan."

"How old are you, Gohan?"

Without looking up to his father the boy lifted his hand, four fingers showcasing themselves.

"Four? Wow!" Bulma exaggerated. "Are you gonna grow up to be a fighter like your dad, kid?"

Gohan scrunched his eyebrows together as if in confusion.

"No. I want to be a scholar."

Bulma's eyebrows shot up as Krillin and Master Roshi both seemed to suddenly choke on their own swallow. Goku chuckled and the girl in his arms squirmed restlessly at her lack of attention she felt due.

"Chi-Chi isn't really happy with me training them. Gohan has a lot of studying."

Krillin blinked in the same surprise that Bulma was encountering.

"You train them both, Goku?" Master Roshi inquired, beside himself.

"Wren only pretends." Gohan spoke small, attracting the focus to himself momentarily before heads rolled back up to the toddler in her father's arms. Bulma stood finally, looking at Wren, who smothered the side of her face in her father's chest while keeping her eyes locked on the blue haired new person; she didn't see many of those.

"And how old are you, Wren?"

Wren's tail moved smoothly to wrap itself around her father's wrist while still looking at Bulma.

"Wren just turned two," Goku stated comfortably.

"Wow, Goku," Krillin stepped up next to Bulma, "I can't believe you're a father."

"I know! It's fun though. Wren likes fighting a lot more than Chi-Chi wants her -"

Suddenly the men froze in place.

"Do you feel that?" Master Roshi announced his question.

"What _is _that?!" Krillin shouted nervously. Bulma looked from friend to friend in confusion before watching Goku slowly pry Wren off of him to hand his daughter over to her. She wasn't going willingly though, her tail refusing to fully separate herself from her safeplace.

"Wren, go with Bulma. She's daddy's friend." Goku waited her obedience from her tail, which was honored quickly at his tone, and the furry appendage unravelled from around his wrist. "Bulma, go inside."

Bulma looked at her friend as she tried to ignore the muscles on the two year little girl in her arms. Quickly though she snapped out of it and turned to retreat into the house just in time.

Goku spoke low as a figure appeared and tension seeped into the muscles of the fighters on the island. "Gohan, go inside with your sister."

But the boy was frozen.

And quickly it was too late.

"Hello, Kakarot."

The man who landed was tall, thick with muscle, and had a long, sharp black mane raggedly fallen to his ankles. He also had a brown, furry tail wrapped tightly around his waist.

"What do you want?" Goku sliced, words sharp, through the air.

"You, brother."

* * *

Small, dark eyes peered out the cold glass window as the ground ascended towards them. She stood on her own in the aisle between seats in Bulma's jet plane thing as her mother looked out beside her, both her hands and forehead pressed to the glass. She glanced with her eyes to the baby in her mother's arms - the baby her father and brother hadn't met yet.

"I can see Goku!" Master Roshi shouted from the front seat next to Bulma, who was piloting the aircraft.

"Gohan?! My baby! Is he alright?!" Chi-Chi flailed tentatively, trying to keep the sleeping Goson unconscious.

The plane landed and everyone hopped out in a hurry aside from Bulma, who remained inside - face distant.

Master Roshi met up with Krillin who was in the process of picking up a naked, five year old Gohan when Chi-Chi had run up and beat him to it. A long haired, three year old half-saiyan moved as quickly as she could to the scarred, torn, bloodied, and bruised body of her father laying on his back away from the others.

"Daddy?" She sung quietly while brushing the tip of her tail across Goku's sticky cheek of sweat, dirt, and drying blood.

He managed his eyes open to see his daughter sitting near his left shoulder. She'd grown. And her speech was significantly clearer.

"Hi, angel."

"Angel? I'm not an angel, daddy." Wren blinked, her head cocked to one side as her tail absently continued its loving gesture.

"You sure look like one from my eyes down here, Wren." Goku smiled, pride uninhibited. His eyes closed at the exertion, unconsciousness threatening to make its grand entrance.

"Daddy, are you gonna be okay?" she spoke after a few breaths, and quite calmly for her age too, but a few tears smoothed their way down her face nevertheless.

"Yes, angel, of course I will be."

"DO SOMETHING OLD MAN! MY BABY IS HELPLESS!"

All eyes darted to the shrill scream coming from the red-faced woman in the kimono with her teeth clench, steam shoo-ing from her ears.

"Oh, Kame," Bulma said, more exasperated than alarmed, "Roshi, get Gohan. I'll get her inside," she ordered as she strode onto the destroyed terrain. "Krillin, get Goku. Wren, honey, can you help Krillin or get on the plane?"

As expected, Wren played her part in helping Krillin, holding her father's hand as she walked alongside the struggling ex-monk.

"Gee, thanks kid," he muttered.

"Hey, wait. Do you guys see that?" Bulma squinted, the midday sun distracting her 20/20 vision.

"See what?" Master Roshi asked, returning outside next to the woman to follow her glance. "Oh, I see."

"What is that?"

"Hey, Krillin?" Roshi called.

"Yeah?" He grunted as he set down the unconscious frame of his best friend, easily twice his size, inside the Capsule Corp plane. He exited quickly to see what had Roshi unsure enough to call on his opinion.

"What is that?" The Turtle Hermit pointed into the distance.

"Bah!" He panicked, "Vegeta?!"

"What's a Vegeta?" Bulma inquired, looking to her shorter friend at her side.

"A saiyan." He muttered, his voice audibly shaking.

"Vegeta is a man?! We can't just leave him! Go get him!"

"No way!" Krillin shouted in her face. "He's the man who we've been fighting all day! Why would I save him? I don't care if Goku asked me not to kill him! That doesn't mean we have to take care of the guy. Bulma, you'll just nurse him back to health so he can kill us all!"

"Daddy would help him, Uncle Krillin."

_Crap, _he thought. He hadn't even seen the girl sneak up beside him - he really needed to get some rest. And now this three year old girl was looking up at him with a hurt face that was even more sad than he remembers his best friend's being when they were younger. Do all Sons have that kicked puppy dog look when they're hurt? Humans just can't handle this type of cuteness.

He sighed.

"Fine. I'll bring him on the ship if he's unconscious. But only then!"

Wren only half smiled, her mind lost elsewhere as she turned to retreat back within the plane to wait.

"You're really gonna save the evil saiyan?"

"Apparently."

"I'll come with you." Roshi said. Krillin nodded and they walked towards the still form meters away in a crumpled heap.

Bulma returned to her pilot's seat, reacquainting herself with her own gadgetry. Once the two shorter men made it to the plane with a flame haired muscle man, she began to flip switches sporadically on the console.

"There's no way I'm taking these guys to a public hospital. I'm heading back to Capsule Corp. I hope you don't mind me phoning a few of our doctors while I drive. Hold on; this could get rough."

* * *

Three hours later and the Capsule Corp. commonly vacant infirmary was bursting with life. Krillin had just finished getting checked on and was sitting up in his metal framed cushioned bed. Master Roshi was standing close enough to be talking to the bald fighter, but neither moved, both lost in thought. Gohan was having finishing touches being put on the white bandaged cast on his arm. Chi-Chi was pacing around him, bouncing a sleeping Goson in her arms while she lectured her elder son. Gohan sighed and was managing to look less than annoyed with his mother through her entire scolding. He was glad that he was hearing it instead of his dad. His dad deserved a rest.

Goku was in a bed near his son and his bed was the only set directly in front of a windowsill, which a certain female half-Saiyan had retreated to in order to keep close to her father during his many checks and minor procedures they were performing without moving him from the room. She'd tried to stay at his side, but the doctors had shooed her away and when she refused to budge they proved to her that she was a hinderance in her father's restoration. The moment a soft groan left the Saiyan's unconscious mouth, she darted away. After crouching animalistically for too long, Wren unlatched the window and raised it so she could sit halfway in the room and halfway outside. Nature had always seemed to soothe and calm Wren. She wasn't sure if that was a personalized attribute, or if it was a _Saiyan _thing. It wasn't really too hard for her to believe that she was an alien.

"WREN! What do you think you're doing? You're not sneaking out anywhere young lady, so just sit yourself back in here this instant!" Chi-Chi chided above the sounds of frenzied doctors squirming around the room.

"She's not going anywhere, Mom," Gohan ventured quietly, hoping his frustration was disguised as discomfort from the man handling his broken arm.

"Gohan-!"

"Relax, Chi-Chi. She's just trying to sit close to Goku. He's surrounded by doctors."A new voice entered the room and everyone seemed to release the tense in their shoulders. The fighters and friends were uncomfortable surrounded by so many strange people, and the doctors were trying not to show their shaking fingers to the families of the men who came in looking terrifying and close to death.

"Fine, Bulma. Since you know my children so well."

"Cool it lady!" Bulma shot back, poking a finger in the dark haired woman's direction. She'd had to handle emergency non-disclosure agreements to all the doctors called and had to file them away before approaching her father with what was going on and why she was borrowing his staff for her friends. She sauntered past the grouchy younger woman towards the back of the room where most of the doctors were. She approached the head doctor, who was actually Capsule Corp's most prestigious doctor and the Brief's personal physician, Dr. Conner, a man in his mid-fifties with soft black hair speckled with grey like pepper.

"How is..." _it? _"he?"

"Dead. Or at least he should be. His entire body was crushed. The smallest of his damages is the hairline fracture in his skull. We're doing all that we can." He shook his head in disbelief. There really was no logical reason for this man to still have oxygen in his lungs and a beat in his heart.

"Did you give him the tranquilizers I requested?"

"Yes, though I was hesitant to do so, if I'm being honest. If it weren't for the steadily growing tail to confirm him extraterrestrial, I wouldn't have followed your orders. The amount you asked for would easily kill any human being."

"Well, thank you doctor for searching for my point of view and always being so responsible. I'm glad you're my personal doctor," she finished with a generous smile.

"Of course, Miss Bulma." He nodded with his returning grin and turned away from the blue haired heiress to check on his patient's paperwork and whether or not anyone had actually had a moment to fill anything out at all.

Bulma took a step forward and despite their diligent prodding and stitching on the Saiyan's body, they moved aside to aide their boss as she moved to the edge of the infirmary bed.

_Vegeta, huh? _she thought to herself. The man was roughed up pretty bad. His clothes were torn in every possible place, yet the royal blue body suit maintained his decency somehow. The chestplate of his armor had been removed and was sitting on a table off to his side. His face seemed to be permanently twisted into an evil glare despite his closed eyes. The sharp angles of his face were stressed as his face pressed together. Though his pitch black hair resembled a flame, Bulma couldn't help but see a dark feather like a warning flag standing poised atop his head. _Creepy, _she thought as she moved to feel the armor. Her eyebrows crumpled together as she felt the alien material beneath her fingertips. Her scientific mind getting the best of her, she picked up the whole piece and turned to exit the infirmary, a new project in mind.

She passed as Krillin, Gohan, and Master Roshi were now openly talking to one another now that their doctors had left them alone. Chi-Chi was hovering behind the few doctors still monitoring Goku and Bulma was glad to pass the woman without drawing attention to herself. However, two eyes caught her before she left the room completely. A small smile appeared on Bulma's face before she gave the young Saiyan girl a wink leaving her smiling on the windowsill above her father as he left for her lab.

Maybe a half hour passed and there was only one doctor still checking on Goku had thought to hop down from her perch, but she was enjoying the fresh breeze that revitalized her senses. Gohan watched his sister with new eyes. It had been a long time since he'd seen her. He was a different person then. A child. And yeah, he was still small and still young. But he hardly felt like the child he was a year ago. He couldn't help but wonder what changes had happened in Wren in his absence. In all the time that he had known his little sister she wasn't terribly complex, though her personality was strong. But she'd been a toddler. They weren't the best company. Heck, he'd acted much like her before Piccolo's training. Would there be more to her now? What did she think of all the fighting? She'd liked to play with him and their father before, but those were games. Fighting had quickly become much more than a game.

"You okay, Gohan? You've been quiet," Krillin pointed out, raising him from his lost thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He made sure to turn a smile on his friend before turning his head back to the other side of the room. His mother was hovering. She really seemed to have no idea how she acted, did she? Gohan couldn't decide if this affected his respect for her or not.

Then there was Goson. They were briefly introduced when he'd woken up on the plane. He definitely hadn't expected coming home to a baby brother. The Saiyan baby was nothing but grouchy to him so far - and his he was sure that he had total control over his tail when he swung it about smacking anyone within range. He wondered idly how the angry baby would act towards his gentle father.

"Chi... Chi?"

Gohan's head darted to the small voice coming from the large man in the bed beside him.

"Goku!"

"Daddy!" Wren had beat him to his excited yell, so Gohan decided to hold it in this time. He would have his turn with his father later. Instead he watched his younger sister hop gracefully from the window landing gently and soundlessly at their father's side. Goku seemed to be exercising to keep his eyes open, but he turned his head to her and smiled nevertheless.

"Hi Angel."

_Angel? When did that happen?_ Gohan thought. He'd never heard his father use sentiments like that before. Wren looked as if she wanted to say something about the nickname, but curled up into his side instead while he lifted an arm to hold and comfort her. Gohan couldn't help but smile. No matter how much fighting his father withstood, he was still overflowingly loving and Gohan was grateful. He would never doubt his father's pride in him or his siblings.

"So, now what guys?" Goku turned to look at Krillin, but not before sending an especially soft smile in Gohan's direction.

"Well, I don't really know Goku. But with Piccolo gone, I guess we could go to the planet Namek. We need to wish him back or we won't have dragon balls anymore." Krillin answered, his brows furrowed as he looked between his best friend and his distant thoughts.

"Sounds good enough to me. When do we leave?" Goku's reply was weak and even Master Roshi's face pinched a little in worry.

"Oh no you don't Goku Son! You're not going anywhere! Let alone outer space! You are in no kind of condition for that!" Chi-Chi pounced on his lack of concern for his injuries' seriousness.

"Well, it's just dragonball hunting. Surely I can do it. Maybe Bulma can come with the radar. We'll be fine Goku." Krillin said his friend's name, but he was really soothing the foaming wife.

Goku wanted to point out that if it wasn't going to be strenuous than he really should be fine to go, no matter his condition, but his thoughts were silenced before they could become words by another speaker.

"I'm going."

"Oh no. No you're no, Gohan! Don't even think about it!" Chi-Chi's yelling and flailing of her fist in the air had woken the baby in her arms, but Goson seemed content to scowl at his mother quietly. "You're already behind enough in your studies. I forbid you, young man."

Gohan looked up from the floor to his mother's eyes. Wren lifted her head from Goku's chest and they watched their family members face off from the bed together.

"No. I said I'm going."

The room thickened. Master Roshi was pretending to be invisible while Krillin was mentally arguing with himself over how much fault he was at over this. Goku tensed and considered letting his exhaustion take him over while Wren looked at her brother with new eyes. Was this the same brother she had a year ago? Was this her Gohan?

"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME GOHAN?" Irate energy seemed to be pouring off the mother in the room. Roshi, Krillin and the doctors on the other side of the room flinched. Wren held her father tighter and he chose to stay awake to hold her and wait to understand his son's reasonings.

"I said NO. Piccolo died because of ME, Mom! I'm going to be the one to wish him back!" Gohan lifted his voice, but never screamed. He wanted his mother to understand him, not feel disrespected by him.

"The green man? Who _kidnapped _you-?"

"Chi, I think you should let him go." Wren looked up to her father's face promptly after the words had left his mouth.

Chi-Chi moved to respond, but was interrupted by the infirmary door being flung open by a small, blue haired woman.

"Let him go where?" Bulma asked.

"Hi Bulma." Goku smiled.

"Goku! You're awake! How are you feeling?" she asked as she approached the bed slowly catching on to the atmosphere of the room she had just re-entered.

"I'm all right. Just tired."

Bulma only smiled at him in response, her mood slowly sinking with the tension of the room. Chi-Chi had yet to look away from her firstborn, even completely ignoring the baby in her arms tugging on her hair.

"We've decided to go to Namek for the dragonballs to wish Piccolo back." Krillin answered her reluctantly. He shifted to a stand and moved a few steps across the room approaching Roshi's side off to right of the Saiyan family near the infirmary entrance.

"And how exactly did you plan to get there? Do you know how far Namek is? It would take hundreds of years in Capsule Corp's best spaceship!" Bulma mused, exasperated at the thought of the years it would take her to come up with that level of technology.

"Ha!" The group heard. Everyone froze. Goku, Gohan, Wren, and Goson physically bristled. Wren and Goson's tails lashed violently out beside them. Goku and Gohan felt the sensation of their tails, idly accumulating that they were growing back and reacting to the threat in the room. Chi-Chi's face of fury was demolished and fear quickly covered her as she gripped her young son too tight for any normal human baby. Krillin was disguising his shaking at the recognition of the voice coming from behind him, while Master Roshi was intrigued and peeking behind him before turning an aboutface.

Bulma was angry. She'd given him enough tranquilizers to kill an army of humans and he was _awake_? She stomped to the rear of her infirmary ignoring her frozen friends.

Vegeta was awake, but unmoving. His features were twisted in a rage the likes of which Bulma had never seen before. Fear flashed through her, but under the confidence that he was immobile, her anger reemerged. She stood at the edge of his bed and made eye contact with Dr. Conner, nodding in his silent question. The doctor moved to prepare three new needles.

"Something funny, _Vegeta?_" She'd hoped that using his name before he'd offered it to her would unsettle him a bit. She hoped.

"That's _Prince _Vegeta to you, wench." He struggled to speak, but his expression hadn't given him away. The warrior was heavily bandaged and obviously dirty. When the doctor approached him with the first needle, he tried to attack. Bulma inwardly flinched, but was reassured when the lunatic alien was still unable to move himself despite his blatant effort. The doctor sunk in a tranquilizer and walked away to prepare the next one.

"What's your deal, you jerk?" Bulma challenged, looking the Saiyan directly in the eye.

Vegeta scoffed a weak laugh. "This planet and it's insufficient intelligence. I'm going to have to build my own ship instead of just stealing one of your failures."

Bulma's face heated and she gulped a breath to begin a tirade, but she stopped herself.

"You could build a ship for intergalactic travel?"

The doctor inserted the second dose of the tranquilizer and pushed in the plunger.

"Of course, onna." Vegeta was slowly losing his will as his mind floated absently, his mouth automatically answering her when he wouldn't normally have dignified such a lowly female with a response. He didn't need to defend his intelligence to anyone, especially a screeching Earth woman.

Ideas blossomed on Bulma's mind. She knew immediately she would have him help her build, she was just having to figure out how to not only attain his compliance, but actually be able to have him freely moving about to build without being free to murder her like he had Yamcha.

_Oh Yamcha, _she sighed.

"How do you control your space pods you came here in?" she asked quickly. Vegeta was obviously losing consciousness and control over his ability to speak. Dr. Conner was approaching with the last needle.

"Remote," he murmured softly with his eyes already closed. Bulma couldn't help but notice that, if only for that instant, his face actually seemed calm.

The moment passed quickly as her annoyance flustered. _Well where the hell is the remote?_

"Here's the remote I think he was referring to, Miss Bulma." Dr. Conner held his hand out to the blue haired genius, a gadget in his hand the size of a cell phone.

"Oh. Thank you doctor. Keep him under until I ask, please."

"Of course Miss Bulma."

She looked down at the remote in her hand as she walked back over to her friends. The Saiyan of them were calming, but still on alert. Even Goson seemed ready for anything, his tail still whipping in the air above his mother's frozen face.

"What's the plan, Bulma?" Krillin asked her when she'd stopped in the middle of everyone.

"I'm going to figure out how to work this remote and any other technology we collected from the site and then I'm going to figure out a way to make that Saiyan help me build us a ship to get out of here."

"That might not be necessary."

All heads turned to the window where a floating black genie was standing on his personal magic carpet.

"Mr. Popo?" Goku managed.

"What do you mean?" Krillin questioned, taking a step forward in his curiosity.

"Well, the ship that Kami came in is still in tact. I thought you might want to take a look at it, Bulma? You all could leave as soon as you liked."

Gohan's head perked up at that and he looked between the genie, his father, and his dangerously pale mother.

"Oh. Well, okay. Um, do I have to come out there?" she asked looking warily at the floating rug.

"Yes, this is our quickest means of transportation. It is very far away."

"Oh," she gulped. "Well okay then."

"We'll wait here for you Bulma." Krillin assured her as she climbed from the floor to step on a corner of Goku's bed to walk out onto the flying carpet.

She squealed as Mr. Popo flew off a speeds unknown of for an airborne piece of fabric.

* * *

When she returned, there was an all clear to leave for Namek. Except that she didn't want to go yet. Despite the thrilling idea of space travel, Bulma's passion had been sparked in her many invention ideas concerning ships and the evil Saiyan she had in an artificial coma. Krillin and Gohan were the only ones willing to go, but Chi-Chi was hardly trusting of the small bald man with her son.

"Chi, just let them go. I trust Krillin and Gohan is independent. It'll be fine. They're just hunting dragonballs."

Chi-Chi was emphatically explaining to Goku why exactly this was a horrible idea, while he was trying to calm his subconscious. He had called his wife in to talk about this, when in reality he was distracting her so Bulma could set them up to leave in the backyard. There was a part of Goku that was heavily burdened by lying to Chi-Chi. It wasn't something he felt was right, but he'd chosen Gohan's desperation to go over his wife's blindly debilitating protectiveness. This was for his son. He was going to be fine. And he was going to tell Chi-Chi the truth after they'd left and then deal with the consequences honorably.

Chi-Chi noticed his lack of attention and her voice raised another decibel. Goku was still tuning her out in order to monitor his son's ki. He was with Krillin, Wren, and Bulma downstairs. They hadn't seemed to have left yet and he really wished they would hurry up. When he noticed his wife had paused he inserted, "I'm sorry Chi. But I think he should go."

She threw her hands up in frustration and Goson started crying from his place on the bed Gohan had been using earlier where the baby had been napping. Chi-Chi lifted and bounced him, trying to calm his upset. Goku felt Bulma's ki back in the house and felt himself release a breath. Sure enough Gohan and Krillin's ki were both gone, so he assumed he couldn't sense them fromt their distance already.

"Chi?" he ventured daringly.

His wife turned to acknowledge her husband. Her anger was momentarily wiped from her face from her dealings with her baby. She waited for him to continue.

"They've already left," he said quietly.

Chi-Chi was stoic for a moment. Then in a scary calm voice she said, "What did you say Goku?"

But before he could answer, Bulma burst back in the infirmary for the second time that day. Her face was warped in concern and she felt hot with fear.

"Goku, Wren snuck on the ship. She's gone to Namek with Gohan."

Goku felt a pressure on his bed and he turned his head to see Goson laying on his stomach right next to his father's leg. As soon as the baby was secure, there was a firm _thud _as Chi-Chi fainted, collapsing to the hard tile of the Capsule Corp infirmary.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

He was about to step out onto his first new planet, months worth of light years away from home, and all he could think about was his three year old sister who managed to stowaway on his ship.

"Ready, Gohan?" A man's voice chipped through the silence of the Namekian spaceship. The young Saiyan boy nodded without turning and then voiced the foreign command through the stale air they'd been breathing for the last few months. A whoosh sounded and a platform lowered beneath the two warriors, descending onto lush blue alien ground.

"Seems kind of backwards, huh kid?"

The boy snapped his head over to his father's friend. "What?"

"The grass is blue and the water and sky are green." Krillin said, jostling Gohan with his shoulder.

It didn't really lighten Gohan's mood, but rather pointed out that he and Krillin are the same height.

Wren hopped down onto the platform looking ready for a fight despite the fact that she seemed tiny. She only came up to the bottom few ribs of Gohan's ribcage. Looking at her knowing they were on another planet all alone so far from home was the most terrifying thought that Gohan had ever had.

"Wren, stay on the ship."

Anger saturated her small face and she halted in her progress of walking towards her brother. "No way!"

"Yes way," Gohan said, deadpan. "This is dangerous."

"I can help!" she pouted.

"You can't even fly." He raised his eyebrows, trying to seem mature and calm, but really he just wanted to whine at her that she was being dumb and difficult. Then he wanted to physically throw her back into the ship. Normally, one of them would be calling for their mom to come settle the dispute, but Gohan banished the thought of his mother for now.

"But I can learn!"

"Gohan-" Krillin tried to interrupt.

"Wren, we don't have time to teach you to fly before we do anything else. We're gonna start looking for the dragon balls. Stay in the ship. No buts. We'll come check on you later, okay?"

Wren was bubbling with anger. She had not come all this way to stay on the ship and though the thought of being out on her own on the foreign planet wasn't her first choice, she would do whatever it took. Her age meant nothing to her. She was ridiculously stronger and smarter than any average three year old in the whole world.

Besides, she was about to turn four anyway.

"Fine." Then, without looking either Krillin or her brother in the eye, she turned and jumped back up into the ship.

"That was interesting," Krillin said, scratching his neck.

"That was too easy," Gohan replied.

* * *

"He's ready, Bulma." Dr Conner startled Bulma from her spying on the trouble in paradise within the infirmary. Goku was still inside and covered with bandages. Chi-Chi had taken up camp in the bed beside him with little Goson, but apparently the woman was completely ignoring the Saiyan. Bulma couldn't even imagine how mad Chi-Chi must be to give her husband the silent treatment.

"Thank you, doctor."

Turning from the glass window in the door, Bulma strode down the hallway towards an end of the compound where the upstairs entrance to the company's hangar. Her footsteps reverberated a metallic cling cling cling once she entered the wrap around iron balcony. Resting her arms against the white railing, she looked down below at the flame-haired man who stood calmly in the center of the room surrounded by machinery.

"What did you do to me?"

Bulma jerked, one hand losing its grip on the rail. Vegeta was facing away from her and though she knew she hadn't exactly had a quiet entrance, she hadn't expected him to address her so, well, directly.

Vegeta pivoted and raised his eyes, his arms remained crossed.

Bulma hesitated. "I took your ki."

"WHAT?"

He was furious now, though Bulma had suspected he was already intensely angry in the first place and just managing to contain it. His self control seemed to be fleeting.

"I can put it back. Well, technically, I can flush out what's cancelling it out."

"What are you talking about, woman?"

Bulma's eyes darted towards the iron stairs that seemed much too close to where Vegeta was standing. She was starting to second guess her assumption that he wouldn't kill her without his ki.

"You've been given a variant of a sedative. It sedates your ki instead of your entire being. It will wear off once it leaves your system, but it's been produced to last for months without the anti-serum."

Vegeta watched her silently. Minutes passed and Bulma's breathing never deepened. Her heart rate never relaxed.

"I can still kill you," he says, finally.

Bulma hide a dry gulp. "I know."

"Hn. Then why am I here?"

Bulma stared at him. He was just going to tell her he's going to kill her and move right on to the next topic of conversation? Though, he didn't actually say that he was going to kill her, but the incentive was definitely hidden in there somewhere. He was actually sounding somewhat manageable.

"I need your help to build a new ship."

Vegeta scoffed a laugh. "What makes you think I would possibly help you?"

"You need off this planet, don't you?" Bulma frowned.

"I have my own ship, woman."

This time, Bulma smirked. She was sure she had the one-up on him now.

"But I have your remote."

The alien's eyes narrowed and Bulma matched him, thankful for the large distance between them. She wasn't sure she could hold up against him if he were right in front of her.

And then, as if hearing her thoughts, he starts walking slowly towards the stairs.

"So I should just kill you then? Then I'll have my remote back."

"You don't know where it is."

"I'll kill every being on this planet until I find it."

"You can't do that."

"Of course I can."

He'd reached the height of the stairs and Bulma turned to face him, holding her ground and willing her heart to calm down.

"Who are you?" she asked, stalling, searching for a new argument to make.

To her surprise, he stopped, his eyes widened a fraction. "You don't know who I am?"

"No."

"I am Vegeta: Prince of all Saiyans."

"Like Goku? And Raditz?"

"Is that the brother that killed Raditz? Kakarot?"

Internally, Bulma said No, his name is Goku, but to Vegeta she said, "Yes. That's the one."

Vegeta's eyes darkened. "Kakarot," he spat.

Then a spark ignited in Bulma's head.

"He's recuperating. You could help me build the ship until he's well enough to fight you again at full power."

The look he gave her showed her that he was fully aware of what she was trying to do and definitely not buying it. And then, to her horror, he started walking again slowly encroaching her personal space.

"After all, the prince should fight an honorable battle and prove himself the strongest of his people, right?" she managed to sputter out when his face grew to be mere inches from hers. One swift move and he could break her neck right now. This could be the end. She could die because of her own foolishness and curiosity. Her immaturity. It had always been her downfall.

"Fine. Give me my remote and I will call my ship here. We'll build a large scale duplicate. And I expect food. Now."

Then he turned and strode back down to the bottom floor and started examining every project in sight. Bulma finally released a breath and wondered if this was a really bad idea.

* * *

Apparently, there was no night on Namek.

"Who do you think that power level is, Krillin?" Gohan asked as he and Krillin flew back in the direction they hoped their ship was in.

"No idea, kid." Krillin was a little unsettled after what they'd just been through. They'd happened upon a village not long after leaving Wren with the ship. The Namekians there willingly helped them once they'd told the leader their intentions. But then a warrior showed up, Nail, who warned them all of the evil on the other side of the blue-green planet. For the first time, Gohan and Krillin seemed to reach out with their senses. How could they have possibly missed the largest power level they'd ever sensed before? Krillin blamed it on the shock of space travel, but Gohan thought that should have only risen their guards, not lowered them.

They were each holding a dragon ball the size of a basketball as they flew, their clothes from Earth rippling in the wind.

"Nail reminds me a little of Piccolo."

Krillin turned to look at the boy flying next to him. Sometimes he really seemed to underestimate the boy. He's only five years old and he's trekking alien planets and scolding his three year old sister for her adventurous spirit. Gohan was a surreal child.

"He really grew on you, huh?"

"Yeah," he responded, a slow smile rising and falling just as quickly. "He was my mentor. He trained me. And not like my dad did. It wasn't until I was with Piccolo that I noticed how soft my dad treated me."

"You are just a kid you know."

"Yeah, I know. But still."

They flew in silence for nearly an hour.

"I'm really grateful for Guru right now. We'd probably have fallen out of the sky already if it weren't for him." Krillin laughed rolling his head and stretching his neck. They hadn't slept in what must have been over twenty four hours, but Nail had taken them to the Namekian Elder, Guru, who unlocked hidden power from within them both. If someone had told Krillin that would ever happen to him by a giant green alien putting a hand on his head, he would have never believed it.

"I know. I feel so strong now." Gohan said, proving his point by rotating in flight. "Hey, look! There's the ship!"

"Wait a minute Gohan," Krillin said, trepidation filling his voice. "That's not our ship." He was trying to maintain his maturity of the two of them, but seeing a different space ship was the terrifying. He struggled to hold his resolve and be the adult instead of leaving the five year old to handle the danger.

"Krillin, it has a Capsule Corp logo! My dad!" Gohan shouted. Krillin sped up to keep up with him.

"But I don't sense him! I can't sense anyone around at all, actually." Krillin watched Gohan land seconds before he followed suit, his nerves berating him for letting Gohan check it out first. He had a bad feeling about this…

Without warning, a hatch opened from the side of the large white orb and steps descended to the ground below. Krillin waited, his heart pounding, ready to grab Gohan or fire a ki blast at a second's notice.

"Hey guys!"

"Bulma?" Krillin choked.

"Bulma, what are you doing here?" Gohan asked from Krillin's side.

The blue haired earthling walked down the steps lazily, as if this were any other day. "Well, turns out the new ship only took a few days to get here. Yours took a whole month. Oh, and don't worry guys; I didn't come alone."

Then Vegeta entered their view in the doorway of the spaceship.

Krillin froze and visibly cringed.

"You came all the way here with that guy?" he squeaked.

Vegeta grunted and walked down the stairs.

"Hey Gohan! Krillin!"

"Daddy!" Gohan's grin split his face.

Goku had appeared behind the evil Saiyan, his smile as bright and large as his son's.

"Goku!" Krillin shouted.

"Hey you guys. How's it going?" Goku starts down to the planet's surface his eyes wandering around. "Uh, where's Wren?"

Krillin froze.

Gohan reacted first. "We left her at the ship while we found a few dragon balls," he told his father.

Goku focused, stretching out his senses, then twisted his face into a foreboding and unnatural scowl.

"She's with Frieza."

* * *

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	3. Chapter 3

Bulma checked the radar again. "Nope. I'm sure guys."

"I can't believe it! Just our luck," Krillin muttered. "Frieza _would_ have the other five dragon balls. Great."

"Hey don't be so down, Krillin. At least now they're all in one place for us! And with Wren. We can get them all at once." Goku grinned.

"We might as well go now. The Ginyu Force is already here, but they're all away from the ship." Vegeta spoke up and Gohan and Krillin stared at him.

"Okay guys, let's talk about our first problem: Why is Vegeta even here?" Krillin asked.

Vegeta growled and stepped towards the small bald man. Gohan stood up from where he was sitting against the Capsule Corp ship.

To their surprise, Bulma moved next to the wild Saiyan whose tail was lashing out behind him. Gohan had hardly thought about his own regrown tail until he saw Vegeta's. Before returning his attention to Bulma, he snuck a look at his father to see that his tail was also there, secured around the waistline of his orange gi.

Gohan and Krillin watched in awe as the Saiyans shoulders relaxed and growl ceased once he recognized the presence of their blue-haired friend.

"Don't worry guys," Goku told them. "He's on our side now."

"Quiet Kakarot! They want a fight and I will gladly comply."

Bulma cringed beside him, but did not say anything. Vegeta's jaw tensed, but he made no other movement. Gohan and Krillin stared at the strange behavior.

"We'll need a distraction to get Frieza away from his ship." Vegeta finally said.

"No way!" Krillin dismissed. "We're not just going to send someone to die so you can get the dragon balls for yourself!"

"Yeah!" Gohan agreed, but it was half-hearted. The demi-Saiyan instinctually retreated a step as he tried to wrap his mind around the logic.

"We could probably just suppress our power levels and sneak around the ship," Goku offered.

"I wasn't asking." Vegeta cut. "And I wasn't sending any of you mindless Earthlings out to distract the most powerful dictator in the universe. You're all imbeciles." He scoffed and turned away.

Bulma, who'd been uncharacteristically quiet so far, moved with the Saiyan mindlessly. Krillin grimaced. Goku remained outwardly oblivious while Gohan watched the two carefully, attempting to understand their change.

"What _were_ you saying, Vegeta?" Bulma asked quietly.

He responded without turning. "I will distract Frieza. You all will gather the dragon balls."

"No!" Bulma shouted, startling the three Earth warriors. "You can't!"

"Hush, woman." Vegeta snapped.

Krillin's jaw had dropped.

"Okay, can someone please explain what's going on here? It's getting a little weird. It almost seems like...you two care about each other."

Gohan watched curiously.

Vegeta tensed and turned to face Bulma, but he didn't make eye contact with her. She looked at the Saiyan with emotion that was now obvious. His tail seemed to unconsciously unwind from his waist to wrap around her thigh.

"They mated!" Goku explained cheerfully.

"WHAT-"

"Huh?"

"Goku!"

"KAKAROT"

"What? It's true. Why beat around the bush?" Goku asked, his head cocked to the side.

"He tried to kill us a month ago!" Krillin shouted.

"It's much more than what you're implying, Goku," Bulma told her best friend softly.

"You're mocking a significant piece of your own culture, third class. I could kill you for what you've said." Vegeta gruffed.

"What do you mean?" Gohan asked.

Suddenly all eyes were on the five-year-old boy in their presence. How could they explain this to him?

Bulma spoke first. "It's like how people on Earth get married, Gohan. Except Saiyans mate which is like a physical and emotional marriage, instead of a lawful one with a certificate."

Gohan looked at all the adults in turn. Krillin seemed to hold his breath and Vegeta seemed to be getting increasingly aggravated.

"Uh, okay," Gohan replied with a nonchalant shrug.

Vegeta growled in his chest. "Enough of this blathering. We need to get the dragon balls. Now."

"You're not using yourself as bait, Vegeta." Bulma demanded to the surly Saiyan who was already growling again.

"You don't get to decide that, woman. I'm doing this for your ridiculous companions, so shut your harpy mouth." Vegeta's tones were deep and his voice low and dangerous, but even then his tail tightened protectively around the smaller woman's leg.

"I think we'll have better odds sneaking on the ship, Vegeta." Goku pitched one last time.

"And possibly run into Frieza who has your daughter?" Vegeta let out a dark chuckle. "He would kill her to watch you drain every last tear in your body. Then he would kill you too."

No one spoke for a while after that.

"Did either of you get a chance to train since your last fight?" Krillin asked.

"Oh yeah." Goku replied, his voice lower than it had been earlier. "With Bulma's new invention, we've both become much stronger!"

"What is it?" Gohan piped up.

"It's this gravity band." Goku showed the boys his wrist revealing a blue band that matched both his own belt and Vegeta's skin tight suit beneath his armor. "It's sort of like wearing weighted clothes, except you control how much gravity you put your body through. It's really cool."

"Oh wow." Gohan stared at his father's arm like it would suddenly become significantly stronger than he remembered a few months ago.

"You guys seem stronger too."

Gohan smiled. "Yeah! We went to see Guru and he unlocked our hidden power!" The boy turned to the man next to him. "Hey Krillin, maybe we should take my dad and Vegeta to see Guru too? He could help them too!"

Krillin seemed to doubt this was a good idea and his hesitancy didn't go unnoticed. Vegeta's eyes finally left Bulma's where they'd seem to have zoned out watching each other. The shorter Saiyan's eyes burned into Krillin, daring him to displease him.

"It's worth a shot."

"Where's Bulma going to go?" Gohan asked the group.

"She's staying with the ship." Goku and Vegeta said simultaneously, earning Goku a glare from the older Saiyan.

"No way! I want to come!" Bulma whined.

"You're kidding," Krillin breathed.

"I didn't come all the way to this planet to do nothing!" Bulma pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Woman."

Bulma and Vegeta stared at each other for a while in complete silence. Gohan had lost himself in thoughts about Wren, thoughts that his father seemed to be sharing with him at the moment, while Krillin watched the eery couple. He would swear they were managing to communicate in silence.

Then, without another word being spoken, Vegeta's tail unwrapped from around Bulma's thigh and she turned and went into the Capsule Corp ship.

"Take us to this Guru person." Vegeta ordered.

Gohan looked to Krillin who nodded. "Okay."

They each hopped straight up into the air, hovering some yards above the ground.

"Then we will follow my plan. No one fail."

Everyone cast a sideways glance at the brutish Saiyan, but no one argued, and then they were all flying as fast as they could while keeping their power levels masked.

* * *

Slowly, a noticeably large power level rose steadily in the distance, climbing towards an alarmingly high region of strength. Gohan, Goku, and Krillin waited few miles from Frieza's ship and sure enough, the massive power level that they now knew as Frieza left his base, gradually distancing itself from the waiting warriors heading towards the power level they each recognized. Once they were sure they were clear, Goku led the slow flight to his captive daughter and the waiting dragon balls.

Only a few seconds of flying in and Goku stopped.

"What is it, Goku?" Krillin asked.

The Saiyan was tense. His muscles were tight and he was too still. Only his tail lashed around behind him, betraying his masked feelings. Gohan looked up to his father with worry.

"I'm going to help Vegeta."

"What?" Gohan gasped.

"Yeah, Goku, that's not the plan. What happened?" The angry fighter's best friend asked him.

"Feel it." Goku replied solemnly.

Krillin and Gohan looked at one another, but sent their senses out to where they felt Vegeta's power level very much alive. A diminishing power level around him told them that his fight had already started. Another powerful force was with him now. The rest of whom they could only assume were the so called Ginyu Force were separated. However, Frieza was closing in on him.

Then they felt it. It came to Gohan first.

Wren was with Frieza. Her power level wasn't in danger of fading to nothing, but it was lower than normal, even for her young body.

Krillin cringed and looked up to his best friend wordlessly. Gohan felt his small frame inflame with rage. Nobody touched his little sister.

"You guys get the dragon balls. Vegeta and I will be fine."

They had no argument.

"Summon the dragon in an isolated area, away from Bulma. I'll try to contact Kame or King Kai to help make the wishes. You guys can do it." And without waiting for their response, the father flew off to fight for his daughter back.

* * *

Gohan was actually surprised at just how strong he was. His previous experiences fighting strangers under pressure weren't exactly highlight worthy. But now, both Gohan and Krillin were strong enough for the entirety of Frieza's crew. Their only challenge had been a smelly, prickly pink blob man. Once they'd defeated him, the rest had been simple. Gohan tried not to focus on their lives and only on their motives. He was fighting for justice and this must be done.

The balls were huge and hidden in what looked like a captain's quarters.

"This must be Frieza's room," the boy commented quietly.

"Yeah, what an office." Krillin scoffed.

They shuffled the giant glowing orbs into their arms. Krillin would be defenseless with the three he was managing to support. Without delay, they flew straight through the first hole they found in the side of the ship, directly through what had once been a wall.

"Bulma's nearly straight ahead of us. We should head to your right, away from your dad and Vegeta so we won't be close to anyone," the bald man announced informatively.

"But we have to go back for the other balls."

Krillin's gaze dropped below. He watched the land and ocean blur beneath him for a few seconds before answering. "Let's hide these and then go back for the others."

"Okay," Gohan complied.

* * *

Wren was dead.

Gohan felt it the instant it happened. The instant the tiny life faded from his little sister, he felt something snap inside of him. A rage had been festering since his father separated from himself and Krillin to go help Vegeta. A rage had been brewing within him and feeling the empty crack of his sister's life being removed from this world smothered his burning rage into a sickening, rabid tenacity beating within every inch of his muscles all over his body. Gohan lost all perception of his own power. His emptiness blinded him. Rage engulfed him. Energy crackled around him, his aura flickering between red and blue.

Mindlessly, he attacked his oversized opponent with a tuft of red hair, who toppled within a minute without ever getting up again, then looked over to his friend and the planet Namek's eternal dragon.

* * *

Damn the Ginyu Force. Damn them all. Every last prancing bastard among their little squad belonged in a place worse than hell.

He flew with extravagant force, but his adrenaline replenished him instantly. Burter and Jeice were closing in on the squalid power level of his woman. Damn her too. If she wasn't so shrill and demanding and violent, Vegeta never would have taken her as a mate and then he wouldn't be flying to her rescue right now.

He wasn't going to disgrace his people, or his mother, for ignoring the significance of bonded mates.

He had to get to her.

And he had to kill Burter and Jeice.

* * *

The calm was eery. Fury was not an emotion Goku was used to feeling, but here he was, fury coursing through his veins. His mind was strangely clear. His breathing was steady. His energy pulsated around him in large golden waves. The feeling was the most purely natural feeling he'd ever felt. His previous injuries became meaningless. His energy felt limitless.

Frieza stood yards away, his terror obvious, his rage obnoxious. He was panicking. It was evident. The lizard tyrant had been gloating about his many transformations, but he'd yet to have made one of them. He'd yet to have done anything but sick his soldiers on the Saiyan. A large green beast, that was once a man, lay dead a few yards from Goku's feet. Sure enough, the lizard had to fight his own battle. He'd only killed a little girl.

Goku's little girl.

He sent out one thought before he attacked, justice sparking in his fingertips: _Make the wish, King Kai._

* * *

**A/N: I hope you've liked my attempt at speeding up the Namek saga without losing its drama. I'm aiming to move fairly quickly until Gohan and Wren are teenagers, which is where this fic will be focused. Let me know what you think of the way I did this chapter.**

**Also, I'm debating on including the "hidden tournament" when Gohan is 15, where Videl wins the junior division. What's your opinion?**

**And, what is your opinion on both Videl and Mirai Trunks' future involvement with this story line? Just interested in reader's points of view.**

**Please leave a review and I will get back to you.**

**Thank you!**


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